Claws
by mystiri1
Summary: One-shot. Shinjiro discovers that sometimes even Akihiko fights dirty. Yaoi, Akihiko/Shinjiro, catboys. Yes, you read that right.


_**Author's note:** for areyougame on IJ, with the prompt: Persona 3, Akihiko/Shinjiro, catboys - Dig your claws in and don't let go.  
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_**Warnings:** This story contains non-explicit male/male sex... and catboys. If this offends you, leave now.  
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Shinjiro only had to look at Akihiko to know he came from good breeding. It was there in the way he dressed, so carefully groomed and immaculate. The way that he spoke, even-toned and articulate, always polite. It showed in the pale skin and small white ears that poked up from equally white hair, colours that would show any dirt or mark and never stand up to the rigours of street-life. It even showed in the way that he fought, each move precise, efficient and oddly graceful.

And anytime he forgot, a brief glance in the mirror was all it took to remind Shinjiro what _he_ was. Scruffy, nondescript brown hair, unremarkable features, ears nicked from fights. Just another back-alley stray. The kind of guy mothers warned their daughters about - or at least he guessed as much, not being all that familiar with the concept of parents. Not the kind you took home and kept, so it never really surprised him that he stayed at the orphanage, rather than being taken home by some family eager to have a child of their own.

Of course, once he figured out that this wasn't going to happen, he made less effort to stay out of trouble. He couldn't stay in the orphanage all his life, and one day he was going to need to survive in those same back-alleys.

He'd expected that Akihiko, with his polite ways, perfect grades and well-kept appearance, would be snapped up by eager adoptive parents, but he'd underestimated the other boy. Akihiko refused to be separated from his sister, and people usually wanted to adopt one child, not two. The other boy might be polite and well-mannered, but he had stubbornness down to a fine art.

That same stubbornness had Akihiko deciding that 'Shinji' was his friend, even though Shinjiro knew better than to accept any such thing. They were too different. His attempts to push the other away didn't work, though.

And when Akihiko stood before him after his sister's death, and vowed to get stronger, Shinjiro decided that he'd help by teaching him what he could of the more rough-and-tumble street-fighting he knew. Aki might not be a stray like he was, but there was always the chance he might find himself needing skills that were a bit less polished and a lot more vicious, because the real world was not a polite sort of place.

Maybe that was when he let himself forget about the differences between them.

When Aki moved into the dorms and joined SEES, there was no question in Shinjiro's mind that he was going to follow, even if everybody else seemed to disagree. The only thing that mattered was the way Aki smiled when Shinjiro glared rebelliously and muttered something about 'watching his back'.

Then everything went wrong, and Shinjiro found himself forcibly reminded that he wasn't the right kind of person to be a hero, to protect _anyone_. Akihiko protested, but he couldn't change Shinji's mind on this one. Shinjiro left and went back to the streets, to the kinds of places where a stray like him belonged.

It didn't stop Akihiko from looking for him, and trying to convince him to return.

Shinjiro couldn't make him understand why he left, and couldn't tell him why he returned. But he'd no sooner unpacked in the dorm room that looked too much like it had back then, than there was a knock at the door. He opened it to find Aki on the other side, smiling at him just like before, and when he asked to come in, Shinji couldn't say no.

Maybe, if he hadn't been the kind of back-alley stray he was, he'd have managed to push him away when the awkward conversation became slightly less awkward kisses and caresses.

It was odd, Shinji thought as he panted for breath, skin slick with sweat and decorated with the kind of scratches that never came from violence; he'd always thought that while he'd learned plenty from Akihiko, Aki had never learned all that much from him.

Not surprising, as he wasn't exactly a great teacher.

But it appeared Aki had learned one lesson too well, even if it was in a battle of a different sort that he chose to use it in. A technique for close-in, dirty fighting, when you wanted to do as much damage as possible to your opponent.

_Dig your claws in and don't let go._

Afterwards, Shinjiro stared at the ceiling, only half-hearing the contented murmur Aki made as he drifted off to sleep. Had he ever managed to win any argument against the other boy, or had Aki merely waited until his guard was down to try again?

Maybe that was one technique Aki knew all along.

A pity that this was a battle neither of them could win in the end.


End file.
